Almost Heaven

This past weekend Travis and I had the opportunity to travel to preach in West Virginia for the first time. We, along with most of the SWAT Team (Skits With A Truth), made the long trek from North Alabama/Southern Tennessee to the city of Parkersburg, West Virginia. If you know me well, then you know that, with almost every comment made,  a song or a quote from a movie comes to my mind. I can’t help it. It’s a gift. Or a curse. Depending on who you ask. 

So, on a road trip to West Virginia it was bound to happen (“and one night it did” — see there it goes again. Thanks Garth) that I would automatically be drawn to the beloved John Denver song, Take Me Home, Country Roads, that starts with the classic line “Almost heaven, West Virginia. Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River.” 

To be honest, we were somewhat questioning the sincerity of those lyrics before we got there because we had been warned by a couple of people en route to “be careful up there” when they learned of our destination. I am happy to say, however, that what we found really was a little piece of heaven. Now, to be fair, what we found in the landscape was really no different than parts of many states that I’ve been to before. There was the Ohio River that reminded me of my hometown Tennessee River. In fact, they split from one another at Paducah, Kentucky and wind in different directions. There were mountains that reminded me of some of the hills I’ve hiked in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Yet, none of those things are what made it “almost heaven.” Instead, it was the hospitality of the brothers and sisters that housed us and fed us. It was the sound of the singing of the saints both young and old. It was the celebration of a new birth that happened when a teenager was baptized into Christ by her grandfather. It was the laughter of grown men watching videos that had been created to encourage the young people. It was in the “oohs” and “ahs” of the eureka moments as the lights came down on another SWAT skit. 

West Virginia was almost heaven in the same way that Pigeon Forge, Dallas, Fordland, Cleveland, Huntsville, and every other city in this country and around the world are almost heaven—there are faithful followers of King Jesus. God’s people—the salt of the earth—are preserving the spiritual landscape as they await the return of the King. I would go back to Parkersburg, West Virginia in a heartbeat. Not for the river or the mountains or even the pepperoni rolls. I’d go back to Parkersburg because a part of my spiritual family is there—and wherever my family lives represents another little piece of heaven.

Ben